Whilst driving down a narrow Moscow street the other day I smashed the nearside wing mirror on someone elses. They were all double parked and cars were sqeezing past each other so it serves him right for parking stupidly. I was horrified. I once had a mirror smashed on my SAAB CD and it cost 200 pound to replace. I suggested to Olga that we repair the unit and just replace the glass. So we went along yesterday to the motor part shop: complete mirror unit - 5 pounds and sixty pence! Then it took me about 10 minutes to replace with the only tool needed being a screwdriver.
What is this car that has such wonderfully cheap parts that are so easy to fit? I hear all the men ask.
Here is one:
Yes - it's a LADA. This one has broken down on the busy Suchosky Val and it looks as if Victor Meldrew is the driver. Fortunately ours is not one of these 'boxy' things but a smaller model - a Lada 'Sputnik'! It has a 1500 engine and is economical, fast and nippy and reasonably comfortable, but a bit noisy.
Imagine my surprise when I first came to Moscow to see men working on the underside of their Ladas and making the job easy by tipping the car on its side!
You still see a lot of LADAs here. They keep them going. The other common Russian car is the VOLGA: even bigger and 'boxier' than a LADA and a real gas guzzler.
My brother had one in Belgium. He used it to tow his big boat about. He called it 'Olga da Volga' - cheeky devil.
Do svedanya
Graham
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